The cuisine includes many preparations that mix sweet and salty and stews with sauces based on botifarra (raw pork sausage) and the characteristic picada (ground almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, etc. sometimes with garlic, herbs, biscuits).

Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, Spanish: Catalu?a, French: Catalogne) is the core region of the area where Catalan is spoken, delimited by the Spanish autonomous region (comunitat aut?noma) of the same name in the north-east of Spain.

The neighbouring Valencia region (Catalan: Val?ncia), the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Illes Balears), Andorra, and an adjacent area of Aragon (informally referred to as la Franja de Ponent) are closely associated with Catalonia historically and linguistically.

Catalan's also have a growing reputation throughout Spain and the world and the region is fast becoming renowned for producing the best chefs and finest gastronomy in the country (a title that has been traditionally held by the Basques and one that they're not going to relinquish without a fight).

Much of Catalancuisine lies in the preparation of sauces for meat and fish dishes; a firm favourite is “Romesco”; usually made with tomatoes, almond, olive oil and garlic and the classic oil and garlic based “Allioli” is also a well trusted formula in the city's restaurants and kitchens.

Simplicity is also embraced in Catalancuisine and in no dish more so than the beautiful “Pa amb tomaquet”, a dish of fresh bread rubbed with tomato, garlic and olive oil often brought out before a meal in restaurants and much lauded as a tasty substitute to bread and butter.

Catalan is also the language of an extensive area covering the eastern part of the Spanish State (the Balearic Islands, Valencia, and a part of Aragon -the Franja de Ponent or Western Marches-), Andorra, where it is the only official language, the south of France (the so-called Northern Catalonia) and the Italian city of Alghero.

It is one of the Romance or Neolatin languages formed inmediately after the dissolution of Latin between the 8th and the 10th centuries in the territories of the Carolingian Empire that formed the Hispanic March.

At the beginning of the 20th century, political Catalanism demanded the teaching of Catalan and the use of the language at the Administration.

Catalans, as the rest of spaniards have their meals considerably later than is usual in other European countries, and it would be a good idea for you to get used to local schedules.

The 'national dish' pan a la Catalana or pa amb tomaquet (Catalanbread) comprises at its most basic bread, usually a firm rustic loaf, on to which ripe tomatoes are squeezed, and is finished off by drizzling on some oil with a sprinkling of salt.

Spanish and catalancuisine are closely tied to religious popular festivities in which family, neighbours and friends gather around the table to taste the dishes and sweets that are typical of each occasion.

The extravagant character of this cuisine is also noteworthy: it can show ascetic qualities in a simple garlicsoup or grilled herring flavoured with vinegar, or it can be lavish for religious or family festivals with a feast of lobsters, pastries and touron (nougat).

Catalancooking is a cuisine of the sun, of warm conviviality, of unexpected combinations, full-bodied wines, a cuisine whose healthfulness comes from the choice, quality and variety of its ingredients.

This Mediterraneancuisine is drizzled with olive oil, enlivened with garlic and bitter orange, and softened by its incomparable ground almonds.

Catalancuisine is a form of cooking that still closely reflects its medieval origins.

The most common catalancookingtechniques either use a cassola (a thick, low sided, earthenware pot), or a paella pan (a low-sided metal pan with two handles located on opposite sides).

This is a mixture of garlic, olive oil, almonds and /or other nuts, fried bread, herbs and spices crushed together in a mortar and used to thicken and add flavor to the dish near the end of the cooking.

www.catacurian.com /food.html (659 words)

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Few cuisines are as attached to their historical roots as Catalan cookery is. Carla Passino compares today's fare with the medieval original.

The core of Catalancuisine is of Roman origin, according to Rudolf Grewe, who was one of the foremost scholars of Catalanfood history.

Not only did the spice become an integral part of Catalancuisine and the cuisines which descended from it, but - cultivated as it was in Valencia and Roussillon - it fuelled a booming trade with Germany and central Europe until the 16th century.

www.countrylife.co.uk /spain/catalanroots.php (1273 words)

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Like its language, what Catalans eat is recognizably different from the rest of Spain, and varies within the region from the Mediterranean coastline and islands to the inland villages and Pyrénées Mountains.

Originally invented as a way of softening stale bread during the lean years of the civil war, there is barely a restaurant in Catalonia, from the most humble workman's canteen to a Michelin-starred palace that does not have it on their menu.

Catalans wax lyrical about it and after a few tries, you too will be hooked and reveling in the fact that you have kicked the high-cholesterol butter habit.

Andrews points our the Catalancooking is a complex and sophisticated system of recipes and techniques, first codified as early as the fourteenth century.) This cuisine was born of Roman settlers and later influenced by invading Moors and still later by French and Italian merchants.

But like any regional cuisines, the character of Catalancuisine comes from the selection of local ingredients are used in distinct, and to our taste buds, surprising ways--nuts thicken a sauce, vegetables appear in desserts, fruit in salads, pork sausage is served with lemon juice and sugar, fried eggplant is dipped in honey.

A simple dish, made in Catalan with squid or octopus no more than an inch long, the squid is sautéed in a hot pan scattered with coarse salt, then the garlic and parsley is tossed in and the dish served.

Escudella de pagés is a appetizing thick and hearty soup-stew of beans, sausage, bacon and ham with vegetables, rice and pasta.

A special point of the catalan diet is the Pa amb Tomáquet, known Pan Tumaca or torradas too, a crusty peasant bread, sliced and toasted, and then moist, aromatic, soft red pulp and juices of a sun-reipened tomato and rubbed over both sides.

Catalan chefs are a mixture of tradition and innovation, they number among the elite of Spain chefs in both, classic and new cuisine styles.

Catalonia has enjoyed a delicious and refined cuisine including typical dishes such as escudella, a meaty broth with pasta, usually followed by carn d'olla, a hearty stew, and roasted meats.

For the first two days of our Catalan tour we will introduce you to culinary Barcelona, the famous market of "La Boquería" and various other highlights of this incredible Mediterranean city.

The remainder of your cooking holiday will be spent at Hostal Jordi's, one of the numerous "masias" (traditional rural houses), a comfortably charming small hotel close to the Costa Brava with a unique combination of mountain and coastal scenery.

CatalanCuisine is the definitive guide to the food, wine, and the customs of Catalonia, a province of northeast Spain.

The evidence of this influence is the range of the Catalan language (`Spanish' is actually Castilian, one of the four official languages of Spain, including Basque and Galician), which is not simply a Spanish dialect, but a language of its own, as similar to Italian and French as to Castilian.

The flagship of things distinct about Catalancuisine may be the four classic sauces of the region, `allioli', `sofregit', `picada', and `samfaina'.

He is the author of two cookbooks, CatalanCuisine and Flavors of the Riviera.

He says that one very unusual -- indeed unique -- feature of Catalancuisine is its habit of mixing olive oil and lard together, in the same dish, as a cooking oil.

I am a Catalan person living abroad, and sometimes it is difficult to explain to friends that Catalanfood is something different to what everybody knows as Mediterraneanfood, since being totally Mediterranean, it is not Italian nor French.

www.hub-uk.com /books/books72.htm (853 words)

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Basque Cuisine is known for its dedication to perfection.

You may not be familiar with the term Anadalucian cuisine, but I'll bet you have heard of tapas.

This is mainly because British cuisine varies widely, depending on what part of the country you're visiting.

Cataloniacuisine begins with the three essential staples of wheat, oil and wine, enhanced by contributions from the East and the New World, and is based not just on day-to-day practice but on a tradition of cooking theory that dates back to Medieval times.

Two of the defining sauces of Catalancuisine are allioli - garlic mayonnaise - and romesco, based on dried red peppers, almonds and tomatoes.

Catalanwine was held in high regard as early as Roman times and has undergone considerable improvement in recent decades through the introduction of new grape varieties and new vinification techniques.